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The Erasmus Research Institute of Management celebrates a remarkable achievement by the Marketing department and our esteemed doctoral alumni. In the special 50th anniversary issue of the Journal of Consumer Research published in June 2024, there are three out of the sixteen featured articles authored by graduates from ERIM's PhD programme. These outstanding achievements are proof of the excellent quality of research at ERIM as one of the top management research institutes in Europe, as well as our PhD programmes and their contribution to the stream of global thought leadership.

In her dissertation, "The Dark Side of the NGO Halo: Exploring moral goodness as a driver for NGO unethical behavior", ERIM's Isabel de Bruin Cardoso drew on social identity theory and cognitive dissonance theory to develop a conceptual framework of the NGO halo effect to explain unethical behaviour through NGO perceived moral goodness. She introduced the concept of the NGO halo effect to explain how people in NGOs can idealise and accordingly prioritise the moral goodness of their organisation’s mission, morals, and people. As a result, NGOs' unethical behaviour is masked by such prioritisation. Results from Isabel's research shed light on how NGO halo can drive unethical behaviour through moral justification, moral superiority, and moral naivety.